Financial Adviser Market Insights, March 19, 2026
Adviser Numbers increased by 15 for the week moving from 15,127 To 15,142
Net adviser numbers rose by 15. This came from eight new entrants and several advisers re-joining the same AFSL after resigning in December 2025—likely due to a quirk in the new education rules that let some who needed to complete a bridging course (or similar), to leave the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) before Dec 31, 2025 and restart in 2026.
Another busy week for new licensees with five new and one recommencing after a short break. Two licensees ceased. In total 100 advisers affected by change.
Sequoia Group had another difficult week, losing seven advisers taking the total loss to 57 for 2026 to date.
SMSFs - The Growth Story Continues
The ATO just released the SMSF statistics to Dec 2025. We have updated our SMSF Dashboards for Members and a blog post analysis will come out shortly. One key message from the data, is that SMSFs continue to grow in popularity. We also see from our other Superannuation statistics - See Superannuation Analysis By Fund Type - that much of this growth comes from members exiting Industry Funds. See more below.
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Key Adviser Movements for the week
15,142 current advisers
Net change of advisers +15
45 licensee owners had net gains of 57 advisers
24 licensee owners had net losses of (-42) advisers
6 new licensees (one recommencing) and 2 ceased
8 new entrants
100 advisers affected by appointments / resignations.
Other key dates affected by this week’s data
Net Change Calendar 2026 YTD +80
Net Change Financial YTD (2025/26) (-29)
Net change last 12 months (-434).
Growth - Licensee Owners
Entireti & Akumin Group up by four - One adviser switching from Inspired Financial Group. The other three all coming back after a break in advice ranging from four months to 11 years
Arthur J Gallagher & Co (Gallagher Benefit Services Pty Ltd), also up by four, two switching from Godfrey Pembroke Group and two new entrants
New licensee commenced (details given to members) with the three advisers switching from Financial Lifestyle Partners (North VIC)
Four licensee owners up by two each:
SGN Financial, one switching from 2DM Capital and one from Alliance Wealth owned by Centrepoint Group
Perpetual Group, one switching from Shaw and Partners the other coming back into advice after exiting in September 2024
Canaccord Group, one coming back after leaving Macquarie Bank in December 2025 and one re-entering personal advice after leaving back in 2022
BSI Private, both advisers resigned from BSI Private late December 2025 and re-started this week
A very long tail of 38 licensee owners up by one each including Infocus Group, Rhombus and Spark Partnership.
Losses - Licensee Owners
Sequoia Group (InterPrac) down by seven - two commencing their own separate licensees. Three are yet to be appointed elsewhere. One joined Australian Mortgage and Financial Advisers and the other joining Advocate Advisory
Count Limited down by four, with five ceased and none appointed elsewhere to date and appointing one adviser previously at Akambo Pty Ltd
Three licensee owners down by three each:
Financial Lifestyle Partners - advisers started their own licensee mentioned above
GPT (Godfrey Pembroke), two joining Gallagher Benefits mentioned above and one switching to Integro Holdings (WA)
Shaw and Partners all three yet to be appointed elsewhere
Three licensee owners down by two:
Axis Financial Group, both not appointed elsewhere
Beryllium Advisers, one switching to Achieving Your Dreams and one yet to be appointed elsewhere
Thi Quynh Trang Nguyen (Premium Advisory Pty Ltd), both not appointed elsewhere
A tail of 16 licensee owners down by net one each including Industry Super Holdings, WT Financial Group and APT Wealth Holdings.
SMSFs - Growing In Popularity
The chart below is from our SMSF Dashboards - available to Members - Having just been updated with the latest Dec 31, 2025 data from the ATO. The chart shows the following:
The top chart is the ‘net number’ of establishments per year since 2016. Currently showing 38,225 for 2025. This number will likely reduce as ‘windups’ can take a while to filter into the data
The bottom chart shows the number of new SMSFs in bars and a line chart for windups. The chart shows that new SMSFs reached 48,464 for 2025 well ahead of 37,701 for 2024 and significantly greater than previous years.
Top Chart - Net Establishment Per Year - Bottom Chart - New Establishments (bars) and Windups (line graph).
